Much pleasure thou can'st give me

Bryce and I put up our Christmas tree. Much like last year, it is so beautiful in our home! I love the feeling of coming home to a warm, cozy home with a Christmas tree in the front window. It is so fun to sit in our house together, just hanging out, with only the glow of the tree for our light. Christmas is such a magical time of year. May your days be merry and bright!

one BIG one

Bryce and I celebrated out first anniversary this month. How magical!!

Have you ever heard someone tell a young couple, "You've been married one year now. You made it!" I always thought it was odd when I would hear it. Now the thought of it makes a little more sense. Marriage is work! It is most certainly something Bryce and I have had to learn a lot about. And I am sure the learning will continue for years to come. But, what a fun learning experience it has been! Bryce is a wonderful person in absolutely every way! He is my very best friend and I am happy to call him mine.

It has been a big year for us. We have seen good and bad, happy and sad, and ups and downs. I graduated from USU and Bryce started. Bryce changed jobs several times. We sold my car and bought 2 different new ones. We took a lot of fun vacations. I got a really cool full time job at USU. Our families taught us a lot about life and love. We moved. The list could go on. We were lucky to have each other through it all. I cannot think of anyone I would rather spend my time with. Bryce is always lifting up those that are around him and I have learned a lot from his Christ like example.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, Bryce and I spent a couple days in Park City. It was a great little getaway.

I gave Bryce a little basket of goodies. Each one mentioned a sense and told him why/how I loved him with that sense. I found the good idea here.

I think he liked it :)

And, of course, Bryce SPOILED me! He got me an iPod Touch! I was totally surprised. He shouldn't have but I sure love it!


We brought our yummy cake topper with us! (Thanks for keeping that for us mom!)

We spent one day looking around at the Deer Valley Resort. It was a pretty fancy place!

We rode up the "funicular" to the main hotel where we found a game of chess. I had never played before but Bryce taught me what to do...

...and guess who won!


It was a wonderful time! I am gratful for a wonderful first year and look forward to an eternity more!

Saturday, November 6

Today was a beautiful Saturday in Cache Valley. I noticed the car said the outdoor temperature was a nice 59 degrees! Beautiful!

But, I am sad to say I did not take advantage of the nice weather. I went to a craft fair then went home to clean the house. Nice eh?! It was good though...our house really needed it! Bryce and I have both been so busy that our home has not been getting the attention it needs.

The day did give me something to talk about though...our new apartment! We moved into this new place about 2 months ago. We love it! It is a bigger than our old place, has washer/dryer hookups, an extra bathroom, covered parking for both of us, and is just an all around upgrade. So, here are the long anticipated pictures of our new home.

~living room~

~front door and stairs~

~kitchen~

~dining area and back door~

~downstairs bathroom~

~master bedroom~

~more bedroom~

~our extra bedroom...that is actually functional...love that~

So there you have it! It is a fun little place. We are glad we found it!

Oh, and if you were wondering what Bryce was doing while I was hard at work back at the house...

~opening day of the pheasant hunt...rough day for Bryce huh?!~

Isn't It About Time?!

Our Bennington family was able to go to the temple together this week. We really missed not having Whitney with us but it was nice to have most everyone there. What a great way to start off the day. Families can be together forever!

Fun Fall

The last couple of months have been very busy for our little family. Bryce is going to school full time and working nearly full time, and the fall months at the USU Admissions Office are crazy busy for me. Between night classes and homework for Bryce, and my travels with the office, we are grateful for any time we are able to spend together relaxing.

With all that said, we have still been able to do a lot of fun things. Here are a few of them:

Have a best friends wedding. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Justin and Melissa Schmidt! It was such a nice day!



Visit Capitol Reef National Park with the whole family!



Go hunting!! Bryce got several good shots at some nice, and not so nice, bucks. He has not got anything yet...thank goodness for the extended hunt!


Camping up Blacksmiths Fork with Melissa and Justin.


Make an addition to our family!!!! One Claw! Our new little red claw crab :) (This was Bryce's idea...are you at all surprised?!)



Go to the USU v BYU football game with Heather and Derrick Mickelson (Go Aggies!!)


Buy Bryce a new shotgun...

And shoot it with the fam :)


And one more thing, we moved! Pictures will soon be coming, hopefully. We LOVE our new house!

So, as you can see, we don't have time to waste time! It has been a great and busy fall! Life is good!

Summer Wrap Up

Well, fall is officially on its way. The mornings are chilly, the bow hunt is here, and school starts in a couple of days. Where has the summer gone?! I really feel like it slipped out from under us! But, luckily, we do have a lot to show for it. We were able to do a lot of fun things. Here are just a few:

Ok...I do not really know where we were going on this early morning...but I had to include the picture. It was like 9 a.m. and Bryce was starving. So, he stopped at Maverick in Nibley and dressed up this monstrous Bahama Mama. I was cracking up while he ate it. Ya gotta love that!!

Next up we have some pictures from a bon-fire that we had with our friends the Freckletons. We went up Blacksmith's Fork, did some fishing, played some games, and of course ate some yummy food. Bryce's famous dutch oven potatoes are like my new favorite food!!

Over the 4th of July we were able to take a fun camping trip to the Greys River up near Star Valley Wyoming. We went with my whole family. There were a lot of good laughs and Bryce caught quite a few fish. It was a blast!

Now, my personal summer favorite, THE POOL! I would spend every day at the pool if I could. I can't seem to soak up enough sun! I went every chance that I got. Bryce was a good sport and tagged along with me a couple times. Here is is going to go try out the slide!

A really exciting thing that happened this summer is Cole getting his mission call. We all gathered 'round and cheered when we heard him read "Called to serve in the Peru, Cuzco mission...you know! Like Cuzco on Emperor's New Groove. We love that movie at our house! Cole is going to be a great missionary!

Now, a summer favorite, fireworks. They are always fun. This is Bryce and I at the fireworks at Weber State.

Here is a crack up story. We were outside working on Bryce's truck (we did A LOT of that this summer too!!) and then Bryce saw this little bunny standing right by the garbage cans of our apartments. He was the cutest little guy! So, we caught him and brought him in our house. We fed him some brussel sprouts and Bryce was convinced that we HAD to keep him. I named him Charlie. He was sweet but there was no way I was going to keep that thing. I think Bryce may have shed a tear but he finally agreed to let Charlie go.

Over the 24th of July we went to Ennis Montana with Bryce's family. It was an interesting time, but a good one. Bryce got to fish his favorite river and he caught a true LUNKER! We ended up leaving early after a somewhat sticky situation but it turned out to be a great thing. We stopped off to buy some clothes at the DI and were able to do a temple session in the Idaho Falls temple. I was a very nice experience to feel so close to Bryce after having a bit of a rough time. I'm glad I had my best friend around this summer!

The last adventure I will tell is fishing at Devils Creek just North of Malad in Idaho. We spent the day with my dad, bro, and sis on the lake. It was fun. I caught this little beauty. Bryce did not catch anything but he had fun fishing and looking for deer.

It was a nice summer. Bryce and I had a lot of fun together! It is nice to know that even though life is crazy and sometimes throws curve balls we aren't ready for, with a best friend by your side, you are able to make it through anything. Thanks honey for a great summer! I can't wait for more to come!!

6 Day Western Caribbean...

...AKA Heaven!

Bryce and I were lucky enough to take the trip of a life time with some friends during the month of May.

We drove to Las Vegas and caught a flight to Fort Lauderdale, FL on May 15, 2010. When we got the Florida we boarded the Carnival Freedom, our home for the next 6 days!

Our travel party: Kaylee and Bryce (obviously); Jamie and Derek Freckleton; Sara and Kenny Turley; Melissa and Mario Chavez; Melissa and Dallon Freckleton.

The cruise was great! We stopped at Key West, Grand Cayman, and Ocho Rios (Jamaica). It was a first for both me and Bryce and it was a blast! Here are some trip highlights:

Day 2: Key West, FL

Jamie and Sara spent several months working in Key West not too long ago. So, it was as if we had our own personal tour guides! We looked around all the fun tourist shops on Duval Street, hit the local pirate museum, and RENTED SCOOTERS! The scooters were a blast! Jamie took us to a fun beach and Bryce saw the ocean for the first time (that he could remember)!

Day 4: Grand Cayman Island

I think it is safe to say this was our favorite stop on the trip. We did some really cool things! The first thing we did was swim with, feed, hold, and KISS stingray! There is a sand bar in the middle of the ocean, and for years people have been going there to see the stingray that live there. We had 2 local islanders with us that showed us what to do. We fed them squid and got 7 years of good luck when we kissed them!! So scary! But SO cool! Our next stop on the excursion was snorkeling. We went to 2 places on a reef. The water was rough and the sky was overcast, but we were still able to see some cool things. It was a beautiful island!

Day 5: Ocho Rios, Jamaica

This is the stop that we were most excited for...but this is the stop we liked the least. We did some sweet things, but the island was dirty and we just kinda felt unsafe. We had several warnings to trust no one...yikes! Luckily, we found a nice local to take us in his van/bus around the area. Mr. Cool, our tour guide, first took us through the Fern Gully Rain Forest. The trees were amazing! The whole island was thick with them! He also showed us some typical Jamaican housing. Pretty much it was cinder blocks with tin roofs! They had water jugs on the top of their houses for their indoor water source! It was a humbling experience to see really how lucky we are to have so much. Our next stop on the tour was Dunn's River Falls. We had to pay to get into the park then we joined a group to start our journey up the falls. It was kind of intense in places but totally enjoyable! We had a lot of fun swimming in the pool and under the waterfalls with the Turleys. Mr. Cool ended our Jamaican tour by showing us more of the island and taking us shopping. Here is a word to the wise, ALL Jamaicans want your money! They will hound you until you want to cry to get something out of you! Jamaica is a barterers dream worked! It was totally ridiculous! They also have plenty of weed to offer :) No wonder Bob Marley always sang "Lets get together and feel alright!"

Days 3 & 6: Sea Days

The ship was amazing! There were multiple swimming pools, multiple hot tubs, a water slide, mini golf, a running track, a basketball court, a casino, bars around every corner, dance clubs, and just about anything else you could think of on board. The dinners we yummy and the live entertainment at night was great! We also enjoyed the famous towel animals that ended up on our bed each evening. We had a lot of fun doing whatever we wanted and eating whatever we wanted on our sea days :)

Day 7: Sawgrass Recreation Park, FL

We had some time to kill between the boat docking and catching our plane. We decided we would spend it in the Everglades. Bryce and I ate breakfast with a couple that told us about Sawgrass Recreation Park and we decided that's what we wanted to do too. We rented 2 cars and found our way around Fort Lauderdale to the park. A crazy, old Florida native took us on an air boat ride. It was totally different than any other boat ride I had ever been on. We were all shocked how it seemed to glide across what we all thought was pure mud. We saw a lot of interesting critters including a HUGE male gator! He came right up to our boat and it looked like he was going to climb on in! He was way cool to see! After our boat ride we checked out the zoo on site. They had a lot of random animals and a lot of gators. We even held some little babies! Kind of nerve racking but fun!

Our trip was a great success! We tried some fancy new foods, saw critters that we had never seen before, visited places we'd only dreamed about, and had a lot of cool experiences. The trip was totally a sporadic thing and we are so glad our friends talked us into it. Thanks Bryce for the fun memories!!